Girl’s Journey from Olympic Lip-Synching to Favouring Censorship

Times of India

March 31, 2013

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BEIJING: The girl who kicked up a controversy by lip-synching a patriotic song during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is back in the spotlight. Lin Miaoke has called for the tightening of censorship on the internet at a time when hundreds of thousands of Chinese are clamouring for more freedom.

The then nine-year-old Lin was the public face who mimed "Ode to the Motherland" at the opening of the 2008 Games because the organizers felt she looked more "cute" compared to the real singer, Yang Peiyi, who was not visible. The incident attracted worldwide criticism, but Lin went on to bag modelling assignments on television, and even a film role.

Lin has now courted fresh controversy with a posting on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, asking the website controller to protect internet users by blocking negative comments. "We make our home here [at Weibo] and should be protected by Sina," her post reads. "The type of speech that is harmful to people's physical and mental health should be eradicated. Such speech should not be allowed to exist on the Internet and pollute the air on the Internet. Sina, you can do it."